FRIDAY, OCT. 19:

Forever emotionally reachable, Michelle Ndegocello, whose name in Swahili means “free like a bird,” always takes her audience soaring. A Kuzcek Records artist (just coming off her seventh release, The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams), she offers love and possibility instead of droning, media-ready lyrics. In the past 15 years, Ndegeocello has supplemented her solo work with collaborations with artists like Bassment Jaxx, Blind Boys of Alabama, Nona Gaye, Keizah Jones, Rahzel, Scritti Politti and Questlove, and has appeared on soundtracks for such films as White Man’s Burden and Money Talks. And though she is hard to categorize, Ndegeocello is everything that soul is, across musical genres. It’s simply easiest to take her song-by-song. More concerned with reaching spirits than whatever is considered to be chart-topping, Ndegeocello and her music are reminiscent of an unedited book, with penciled paragraphs and unexpected addenda. She never closes herself off from her to audience nor second guesses herself in search of hype. She just does what she does. (PB)

AT THE ECHOPLEX, 1154 GLENDALE BLVD., ECHO PARK. 7 PM / $23-$25 / 18+. WWW.ATTHEECHO.COM.